Pressure in association with Amnesia House
present
'The Oldskool Mad March Party'
Warwick University Students Union
Coventry
Thursday 9th March 2006

It’s been along wait since the last Amnesia party, over 12 months infact. Tonight they teamed up with Pressure who are renowned for hosting drum and bass parties at the Warwick university student union. It might have not been an all-nighter but the dj line-up brought along some of the original Amnesia House crew. The 2nd arena was hosted by Pressure, were going for the oldskool jungle.

Coventry is Amnesia House's spiritual home. Holding many nights at the infamous Eclipse, the Amnesia name is a formidable one. Especially in rave folklore and with Amnesia being back in their home town of Coventry who could foretell what the night might bring?

Going to this event was bit last minute, I headed to B’ham city centre to meet up with Glenn Aston and the rest of the B’ham crew, only for him only to turn up 40 minutes late….
Zipping down the Coventry road we headed into Coventry and followed the signs for the Warwick arts centre. With tonight being on the university campus there was plenty of parking.

We headed for the student union and found security there were checking everyone’s ID no matter who or how old you were. After a brief search we were in, we got there for just after 10pm. It wasn’t busy so we decide to have a wander around the venue.

I was quite impressed with the venue. I’ve heard so many good things about this place, only to find it all true. The main arena was very spacious with a balcony overlooking it. The production used in here was good, the dj box was situated a platform overlooking the crowd with a massive projector showing off some mad visuals.

DJ Joker was on in here doing the warm up set though it wasn’t very busy. We found the 3rd arena which was situated upstairs. Up here was plenty of sofas for people to chill out on with a few pool tables, and discovered Man Parris was on the decks doing a DJ set.

This was a chilled out set playing a lot of early house and some nu-skool breaks too. What I liked about this venue being a student union, was the traditional student bar with very cheap prices, how I miss my university days!

After Man Parris finished his set I headed down to the drum and bass room,in time for DJ Ratty. The drum and bass room was hosted by Pressure with the dj’s booked to perform oldskool sets. MC Devious was on during Ratty’s set, and although he was quite young he did a good job, not mcing loads over the tracks reminded me of MC SP to be honest, just here to compliment the music.
The drum and bass room was decked head to toe with an army theme as the stage was covered in camouflage and army apparel. DJ Ratty was playing an early drum and bass set, Ratty played ‘It’s a jazz thing’, ‘Dark stranger’, ‘R-Type’ and ‘I bring you the future’

Mid way through his set I decided to head into the main arena and Amnesia’s Stu Allan and MC Man Parris were on. The dance floor was getting quite busy at this point, much busier compared to when we first entered the venue. Stu Allan was playing hardcore classics like, ‘Bombscare’, ‘Some justice’ and ‘Music’s so wonderful’, throwing in a couple of hands in the air piano classics to get the crowd going with ‘Can you feel it’ and ‘Express yourself’.

Man Parris kept the party alive getting the crowd rocking and hyping them up as the dance floor was rammed during this set. Stu Allan decided to pump up the tempo as he started to play a few Club Kinetic classics which got the crowd bouncing with gems like ‘Now is the time’, ‘Detonated’ and topping the set off with ‘Shooting star’.

After Stu Allan, I decided to go back to the drum and bass room and oldskool. Here the dark solider Ray Keith was on. The drum and bass arena was very busy at this point

Ray was playing an awesome set as it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen Ray Keith play an oldskool set. The set wasn’t filled with your typical anthems either looking like he dug deep into his collection throwing out gems from across the spectrum with ‘Living in darkness’, ‘Dark stranger’, 'Babylon and ‘Satin Storm’s ‘Let’s get together’.

PA time in the main arena, as oldskool legends ‘All Around the World'- N-Trance were live on stage , There to perform a PA of their greatest hit’s. The main arena was completely rammed at this point with hardly any space to move as it looked like full capacity. N-trance were here complete with vocalist Gillian Tenant of Q-Tex fame as they performed ‘Forever’, ‘I’m in heaven’ and the 1992 dance floor slammer ‘Set you free’.

Hardcore legend DJ Slipmatt closed the night for the remaining 2 hours, at this point we decide to leave and head back home.

I thought tonight was very successful especially in comparison to the last Amnesia party held in The Empire, in Milton Keynes 12 months ago. I was quite sceptical especially when first arriving at the venue to find the dance floor virtually empty but come 11 o’clock the place was filling up nicely. The total for a Thursday night ending in 1400 !

The venue itself is quite big and all the available arenas were open, I was quite impressed with the venue the layout and size. In the past the venue has hosted various events including the mighty Valve sound system, gaining itself a good reputation in the midlands.

The only downside is the fact its on mid week which is unfortunate as had this been on a weekend I would have definitely stayed right till the end and maybe the venue would of had an all night licence too, as this place has got some great potential.

Massive shouts and respects to Man Parris, Mike and the rest of the Amneisa / Pressure crew, Nicky Blackmarket, Glenn Aston, Wil, Luke, Satin, Michelle, Samas, and Caution.